


Is There Somewhere?

by grumpynoodle (orphan_account)



Series: Room 93 [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: 18x18, Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Smut, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Songfic, because I live for 18x18 Lashton, fair warning that luke is a bit of a dick in the beginning, that goes away pretty fast though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:37:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3935365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/grumpynoodle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael had never given him advice on guys before, he’d probably never felt the need to. Yet for some reason, Michael seemed to be starting to think there was reason enough in the way Luke was treating Ashton.</p><p>Luke had zero clue as to where he’d even begin if he did—figuratively speaking, of course—like another guy. And if that other guy were Ashton? Shit, he’s probably already ruined that by being so awful to the guy on his very first day at a new school. What was he thinking?</p><p>He lets out a groan before falling face first onto his bed. The boy lays there for a while, thinking to himself about crushes and Ashton and maybe, just maybe, crushes on Ashton.</p><p><i>Or...</i> Luke's kind of an asshole to the new kid at school, but he grows on him pretty quickly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've never really written fan fic before (never for 5SOS and never this long), so please bear with me. I appreciate any feedback you guys have and it would mean a lot if you let me know what you think :)
> 
> Also, this fic is based off of _Is There Somewhere_ from Halsey's _Room 93_ EP.

_Some wanna see you crash and burn_  
_And criticize your every word_  
_I'm trying to keep from going insane_  
_Ain't that the way of this whole damn thing_

 

If there’s one thing on Earth that Luke hates more than school itself, it’s his first period Calculus class. The teacher, Dr. Farnsworth (and my God have mercy on your soul if you call her Ms. Farnsworth instead of Dr. Farnsworth), has always seemed to have it out for anyone under the age of thirty. It astounds all of her students why she chose to teach teenagers when she can’t even look at one of them without sneering.

Yet, when Luke finds himself wandering into Calculus just before the late bell, he isn’t greeted with Dr. Farnsworth’s typical grimace. Nearly the opposite, actually. The first thing Luke notices when he looks at his teacher is the way the corners of her eyes crinkle even more as she smiles. Wait. She’s smiling.

Luke is quick to avert his gaze, his eyes immediately locking onto those of his friend Michael, who’s sitting at his usual desk in the back corner of the room. As the taller boy makes his way over to his friend, he cocks his head to the side and makes no effort to fight the puzzled expression which spreads across his face. Michael shrugs in response but Luke still finds himself put a bit at ease by the look of confusion on his friend. Luke takes his seat, immediately to Michael’s left, choosing not to try and look much further into the situation.

After the rest of his classmates are all seated, Luke’s attention is captured by his teacher’s startlingly chipper voice. “Good morning, class!”

Luke spares an awkward glance to Michael before he looks back to the teacher at the front of the room. He’s honestly a little frightened by her extreme change of character and he can’t help but notice how she doesn’t look as much like a troll as she usually does.

They all chime back their own good morning and wait, somewhat impatiently, to hear about what has her in such a fabulous mood. A part of Luke is expecting a pop quiz on next chapter’s material that she’ll count as a test in the gradebook. It sounds like the type of thing she’d do just for kicks.

“We have a new student joining our class this morning—a transfer from Hillcrest High.” The class watches on in complete silence as Dr. Farnsworth waddles to the door, inches it open, and quietly beckons the new kid into the room. She addresses the class once again, “He was on their academic decathlon team, one of their best, if I do say so myself. Please welcome Mr. Ashton Irwin to our class.”

A boy with a head of dark blonde hair, who appears to be at least six inches shorter than Luke, strides into the room. He gives a confident, dimpled smile and a small wave as the classroom of teenagers silently observes. Luke can’t help the pang of jealousy he feels at how unaffected this Ashton kid seems to be by the roomful of strangers staring at him. Luke knows without a shadow of a doubt that he’d be a stuttering mess if he were in the kid’s place, probably doing what Michael calls The Foot Thing and staring doe-eyed at his hands. He hates being so unreasonably jealous.

The boy’s eyes lock with Luke’s just long enough for Luke to notice that they’re hazel before Luke is avoiding his stare. Luke leans over a little to whisper to Michael. “Don’t we have enough people in the class already?” He grumbles, desperately trying to ignore the feeling of Ashton’s eyes on him.

He wasn’t wrong about there already being plenty of students in the class. There’s twenty-eight of them (twenty-nine with Ashton), but both Luke and Michael know that he couldn’t care less about class sizes. He just has something against this kid that he’s never even spoken to before and needed some sort of seemingly legit reason to be a dick about it.

Michael snorts at his friend’s immaturity and shakes his head a little, watching Ashton as he says hi to the class. He shakes his head at Luke and his response is no louder than a mutter. “You’re just jealous because his jeans are tighter than yours.”

“Oh, pl--” Luke’s cut off by the familiar, crude sound of his teacher’s voice.

“Ah, Mr. Hemmings! How kind of you to volunteer to show Mr. Irwin around today.” Despite her sincere tone, Dr. Farnsworth’s dark eyes are narrowed and Luke can feel the tips of his ears turning red. She knew as well as he did that he wanted nothing to do with Calculus class, let alone having to teach someone else about it. But he also knows he shouldn’t have been stupid enough to try and talk while the old woman was speaking, so he shrugs and gives her a half-assed attempt at a reassuring grin.

“You bet, Dr. Farnsworth! You know how much of a social butterfly I am.” Luke’s body language and voice quickly mirror that of the aging woman at the front of the room. (He ignores Michael as the boy chuckles and mutters something about Luke having the social skills of a chicken nugget.)

When he looks to Ashton, though, the boy seems absolutely delighted to have someone to keep him company through his first day. Luke can’t help but sigh at the boy’s seemingly gullible nature.

The woman with the crooked nose and greying hair instructs Ashton to go sit in the empty seat to Luke’s left. Ashton immediately obeys her, that same grin from earlier spread across his face as he walks to his desk.

 _What a teacher’s pet._ Luke considers voicing that thought to Michael but, although he wouldn’t care if Ashton caught it, he doesn’t want to risk Dr. Farnsworth hearing.

Ashton quickly makes himself at home at the desk next to Luke, neatly stacking his binder and notebooks next to the pen and pencil he has lying parallel to the edge of the desk. He notices Luke watching and gazes back at him with a pair of kind, hazel eyes. “Hi, I’m Ashton.” He whispers to Luke with a tiny smile.

Luke chooses to ignore him, moving his focus to the notebook on the desk in front of him.

Ashton clears his throat and tries again, still at a whisper. “Hi, I’m Ashton. What’s your name?”

Luke clenches his jaw for a moment and speaks just as Ashton is about to repeat himself again. “Luke.” He mumbles to the smaller boy. His blue eyes shift from his notebook to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom. Dr. Farnsworth is still looking quite happy and Luke’s concern is growing exponentially. Surely her body isn’t used to this much positivity (or any at all, for that matter). He’s half convinced she’ll self-destruct before the class period is over.

“Nice to meet you.” He can feel Ashton’s eyes on him and, out of the corner of his eye, Luke sees the other boy lean closer to him. “Is he your friend?” Luke doesn’t have to look at Ashton to know he’s referring to Michael so he gives a small nod in response. “What’s his name? I really like his hair.”

Luke rolls his eyes. “Michael.”

Ashton nods and his eyes drift over to Michael. He gives the older boy a small wave once Michael looks back at him. “I’m Ashton.” He chirps.

Luke watches as Michael gives Ashton a small smile, which elicits another eye roll from the blonde. Michael ignores his friend and chooses to reply to Ashton instead. “Michael Clifford. You can call me Mikey if you want; it’s what all my friends call me.”

“Oh!” Ashton seems to take Michael’s words to heart, probably excited to already have someone to call a friend at his new school. “Well, at Hillcrest some of my friends called me Ash, if you wanna call me that. I mean, only if you want to, I don’t really mind either way.” He lets out a nervous laugh and shrugs.

Luke bites at his bottom lip and begins scribbling down what Dr. Farnsworth is writing on the whiteboard onto his piece of notebook paper. He ducks down a bit so he doesn’t get caught in the middle of Michael and Ashton trying to (literally) talk over him. Luke doesn’t even try to hush them. It’s partially because he doesn’t mind if Ashton gets in trouble and partially because he knows Dr. Farnsworth won’t yell at the kid on his first day anyway, not after how excited she seemed just to have him in her class.

“So you’re from Hillcrest?”

Luke sees Ashton nod from the corner of his vision. “Yeah, I was on their acdec and swim team.” Ashton shrugs, “But Mum got a job offer on this side of Sydney, so we decided it’d be better for me to switch school instead of me having to drive an extra 45 minutes every morning just for me to get to school.”

Michael lets out a small laugh. “No, no, that totally makes sense.” He pats Luke on the back, but the blonde boy keeps his eyes on his paper, silently hoping his friend wouldn’t try to drag him into the conversation. “Ya know… Luke’s on the swim team, too.”

“Really?” Luke can feel Ashton’s eyes on him again and it makes his stomach feel a little uneasy. “Actually, that makes sense. I thought I’d seen you somewhere before. That must be it.”

Luke’s narrowed blue eyes look up to meet Ashton’s wide hazel ones, one of his eyebrows quirked. “Yeah,” His voice is gravely so he clears his throat before continuing. “Yeah, that would make sense.” He feels like an idiot for just repeating the other boy’s words, but Ashton’s theory was enough for Luke to excuse this feeling in his stomach as a little bit of déjà vu. He looks back down at his paper the moment there’s a shared silence between the two of them.

 

* * *

 

Luke soon realizes that his schedule is nearly identical to the new kid’s, with the exception of AP Chemistry because Ashton’s apparently already passed that class and he’s taking whatever’s a step above it at the community college a few days a week. He figures that’s the reason Dr. Farnsworth was in such a good mood this morning, she’ll finally have someone in her class who cares the slightest bit about maths.

He finds the boy following him around like a lost puppy the entire day, not even the slightest bit deterred when Luke tells him to _just fuck off_ for the third and final time. He doesn’t feel at all bad for being mean to the other boy.

It’s a bit chilly outside as they’re walking from eighth period English to ninth period Music Theory and Luke finds himself huddling into his hoodie as Michael nudges his shoulder. They meet eyes for a brief moment and Luke knows what his friend’s going to say before it’s even been said. “He’s not trying to annoy you, ya know.” They both glance back at Ashton, who’s following a few feet behind the two of them. The boy’s watching his shoes as he walks and swipes a hand through his slightly curly hair every couple seconds after it starts falling into his eyes yet again.

Luke looks forward and shakes his head with a sigh. “I know, Mikey. It’s just… I don’t… there’s something about him that gets to me.” He looks down at his Converse as Michael lets out a contemplative hum.

“Okay, I get that I guess. Just _try_ to give him a chance. He’s been trying to befriend you since Calc this morning and you can’t even be bothered to give him the time of day.” Michael pauses as though trying to decide whether or not speaking again would be worth it. “You know, you used to do the same thing to me when we first met. Back in Year 1, do you remember that?” Mikey lets out a sigh when all his friend does is shrug. “Alright, well, either way. Just try. If not for me, then for yourself.”

Luke doesn’t respond to his friend and they remain silent the rest of the short walk to the music room. They’re met with a sharp gust of air as Michael swings open the door to the building, which causes Ashton to let out a surprised squeak. The music room is the fourth largest building on campus; beat out only by the library, cafeteria, and gym. There are instruments all over the room in what could only be described as organized chaos. It was heaven to the two boys, though, who spent the entire school day looking forward to this class. Mikey and Luke go to their usual spot next to the guitars and shrug off their backpacks.

Luke remembers as he’s sitting down that Calum won’t be joining them in class today because he was stuck in the library all day as punishment for sassing their history one too many times.

As per usual, Ashton follows and pulls a chair up next to them, plopping down and holding his backpack to his chest. Luke barely manages to keep himself from groaning when the new kid just sits there and watches as he grabs a nearby acoustic guitar and begins tuning it. Ashton stays quiet even as Michael grabs a guitar of his own. He only makes himself known when he recognizes the song they’re playing together as _Remembering Sunday_ by All Time Low and begins to hum along.

The blonde boy stops playing the moment he realizes what Ashton is doing. “Do you mind? We’re trying to play here.”

Michael makes no secret of the warning glare he sends Luke’s way, but the taller boy ignores it and continues staring at Ashton with narrowed eyes.

“I-I…” Ashton looks absolutely terrified. “Sorry, I didn’t even notice I was going it.” He lets out a small laugh, but stops when he realizes nobody else is laughing with him.

Luke grunts and starts playing again, Mikey quickly joining back in at the beginning of the second verse. Ashton is back to quietly humming along within ten seconds.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Luke practically growls, dropping his pick and narrowing his eyes at the other boy, who instantly stop his humming. “Are you trying to get on my nerves?”

Ashton shrinks away from the larger boy and averts his gaze to the floor where Luke’s yellow pick is lying.

“Dude, stop being such a dick.”

Luke smirks until he realizes that Michael’s comment was directed at him and not Ashton. “You’re kidding.”

Michael shakes his head. “I’m really not.” The platinum blonde fringed teenager looks over at Ashton and poke him on the shoulder. Ashton flinches before leaning away from the touch, but he looks up at Michael anyway. “We’re hanging out at Luke’s tonight and I think you should come too.”

“What?” Luke protests, but Michael ignores him. Luke leans back in his chair and clutches the guitar as though trying to keep himself from throwing it in a fit of childish rage.

“Ashton’s eyebrows pull together and his mouth is definitely a hurt frown at this point. “I don’t think Luke would like that very much… I’ll just–I have some Calculus homework I need to do anyway…”

Michael rolls his green eyes. “That’ll take you, what, like thirty minutes tops? C’mon, I promise I won’t let Luke be too mean to you while you’re there.”

Even with Michael’s promise, Ashton looks skeptical.

“There’s gonna be food and soda and probably videos games because let’s be real, what hanging out a Luke’s without video games?” He grins at Ashton wiggles his eyebrows.

Ashton seems more interested at the mention of food but shakes his head nonetheless. “Mum doesn’t like me driving anywhere but school and then back home. I have no way to get there.”

“Stop making excuses because Luke is being an asshole about everything. I’ll drive you there and back if you need me to.”

Ashton glances up to Luke who, unsurprisingly, has his eyes narrowed and teeth slightly bared in a mock snarl. Luke isn’t so much angry about Michael inviting someone to his house, but that that someone happens to be Ashton.

“Uhh…” He looks over to Michael, who clearly couldn’t care much less about Luke’s behavior as he has one of the most promising grins Ashton has ever seen. “Okay, yeah. That’d be… that’d be cool.”

“Score!” Michael reaches out to give Ashton a high five and the boy hesitantly returns the gesture. “Here, add yourself to my contacts and I’ll text you the details or whatever.” He unlocks his phone and hands it to Ashton who quickly adds himself to the green-eyed boy’s phone before giving it back.

Michael’s got a look on his face like he’s just beat the final boss of his favorite game but it quickly changes into a devilish grin when he makes eye contact with Luke again.

Luke gives him a blank look before he leans down to retrieve his discarded pick from the ground but Ashton beats him to it, handing the yellow pick back with a faint smile. Luke forces his own lips to twitch into a half-assed attempt at a friendly smile of his own but it’s gone before Ashton really has the opportunity to see it.

Michael and Luke start plucking at their guitars again, but this time Luke allows Ashton to hum quietly along. His hums turn into quiet singing somewhere in the middle of the boys playing Green Day’s _American Idiot_ and Luke has to silently admit to himself that the kid isn’t half bad at singing and seems to have decent taste in music.

It doesn’t feel like much time has passed when the dismissal bell rings and Ashton waves a goodbye to Michael and Luke before rushing off to try and beat the after school traffic. The two friends return the guitars they were using to their stands and grab their backpacks before leaving the classroom, saying their goodbyes to the teacher as they go. They say goodbye to a few other students as they walk off campus, but they’re halfway to Michael’s car before either of them say anything to the other.

“What do you have against Ashton?” Michael’s expression is blank at first, but becomes more concerned as Luke stays silent.

The boy can feel the tension growing, so he opts to shrug. At least it’s some form of response, even if it’s a bad one.

“I’m being serious, Luke. Shrugging isn’t an answer I’ll accept this time.”

The taller boy glances down at his friend before settling his eyes back on the sidewalk. “I dunno… there’s just something about him.”

“That’s what you said earlier.”

Luke releases a sigh. “I know. But that’s really the best I can come up with right now. This _something_ … It’s different and I don’t know if I like whatever that something is.”

Michael is silent, probably thinking over his next words carefully, based on his thoughtful expression. He keeps the same look on his face the rest of the short walk to his car, finally looking at his friend when they reach the black vehicle. “Do you… like him?”

“Clearly not! I thought you would’ve picked up on that by now.” Luke scoffs with a roll of his eyes. He grips the handle on the passenger door, but Michael still hasn’t unlocked the car. He tries to open it again, though, in hopes he may be able to escape his friend’s interrogation, regardless of how good Michael’s intentions may be.

“You know that’s not what I mean.” The platinum blonde boy leans against the car and peers over it at Luke. His eyes are searching Luke’s for something neither one of them quite know is there.

“ _Mikey_ …” Luke whines but the other boy has a stubborn look on his face. The taller of the two lets out an exasperated sigh, knowing he has no way out of the situation until he gives a proper answer. “I… I don’t think so. Not like that. I’ve never likes a guy like that.”

Michael’s the one shrugging this time, leaning away from the car and unlocking it with the little key fob in his hand. He speaks again after he and Luke have already slipped into their seats and he’s turning the key in the ignition. “There’s a first for everything, man.”

 

* * *

 

The drive to Luke’s house is abnormally quiet, save for the Arctic Monkeys song playing over the radio. Luke says a quiet goodbye to Michael as he steps out of the car Michael had gotten for his birthday. His friend reciprocates the farewell and is pulling away within a few seconds of Luke closing the car door.

The blonde boy hurries inside his home to try to escape the feeling that Michael was disappointed in him. He immediately heads to his bedroom, but he still his this nagging feeling that Mikey has a point. His friend can read him like a book, he’s always been able to, even before the taller boy has a chance to fully realize his own feelings.

When they were in Year 3, Luke had this massive crush on a little brunette girl in his class named Eloise. Even back then, little Michael would tease Luke until he finally gained the courage to admit his own feelings and ask the girl to be his girlfriend (even though _girlfriend_ probably wasn’t the proper title for this girl Luke had known for all of an hour before deciding he was totally infatuated, but still). She’d turned him down, said she wasn’t ready for a relationship yet. Luke had been so confused at the time. Why didn’t she like him? Was it his hair? Had there been something in his teeth? But little Michael had insisted that it was okay that she’d said no. That it was probably for the best anyway. If she didn’t like him, he shouldn’t try to force her to and Luke understood that.

Even today, in their final year of high school, Michael was the same person to Luke. He’d convinced Luke to do the right thing, even if the right thing eventually led to him getting rejected. A “no” isn’t the end of the world, it’s closure at the very least.

But Michael had never given him advice on guys before, he’d probably never felt the need to. Yet for some reason, Michael seemed to be starting to think there was reason enough in the way Luke was treating Ashton.

Luke had zero clue as to where he’d even begin if he did—figuratively speaking, of course—like another guy. And if that other guy were Ashton? Shit, he’s probably already ruined that by being so awful to the guy on his very first day at a new school. What was he thinking?

He lets out a groan before falling face first onto his bed. The boy lays there for a while, thinking to himself about crushes and Ashton and maybe, just maybe, crushes on Ashton. But he mentally shakes his head at himself, shoving away every inkling of that possibility.

Luke’s brought back to reality by the sound of his bedroom door opening. There’s no other sound, apart from the beating of his own heart, which he swears can probably be heard from the other side of the house, so he props himself up on his elbow to see who decided to pay him a visit.

Standing halfway between his bedroom door and his bed is Molly, his family’s old Border Collie. He sits up when he realizes it’s her and not one of his parents, patting on the bed beside him. She immediately jumps up onto the bed, curls into a loose ball, and rests her head on Luke’s knee.

“Hey,” He doesn’t normally talk to the dog, but he’s pretty sure he and Molly are the only ones home so it’s not like anyone else would hear. “There’s this new boy at school and Michael is convinced I like him.”

Molly’s ears perk up at hearing Michael’s name, which isn’t much of a surprise. He and Calum have been bringing her treats since they were in primary school, so Luke wouldn’t be very surprised if she prefers his friends over him.

“Yeah.” Luke scratches behind one of her ears and keeps his gaze on an All Time Low poster hanging next to his bedroom door. “I don’t think I like him like that, to be honest. He’s one of those teacher’s pet types and I’m just not about that.” He shrugs and leans back onto the hand that isn’t petting Molly. “He’s coming over tonight, though. Michael pretty much forced him to say yes, but that’s how Mikey is, I guess.” Luke hears the front door open and close and whispers to Molly as he gets off his bed. “Don’t tell Mum what we talked about.” He feels stupid saying such things to his dog, and honestly, he probably is.

Luke goes out into the dining room, Molly following at his heels, and sees his mother unpacking groceries in the kitchen.

“Hey Mum.” Luke says and immediately goes to help her put things away.

“Hi Lewi.” She replies absentmindedly. She hands him a box of cereal to put away because she’s too short to reach the shelf it goes on. “How was school?”

He puts the box away and shrugs. “Eh. It was okay.” There’s silence between them as they continue unbagging the food.

Liz hands him a couple bags of crisps. “Put these on the island, hun. They’re for when your friends get here.”

He obeys her. “There’s a new kid in my grade. They transferred over from Hillcrest.”

She glances up at him for a moment, her eyes teasing, before she’s back to putting things in the fridge. “Oh yeah? What’s her name?”

“Actually, uh, _his_ name is Ashton.”

“Well that’s a nice name.”

“Yeah, he’s actually coming over tonight. Mikey invited him.”

This time she full on stops, her jaw set. “Why didn’t you invite him? It is your party, after all.” Liz has this mum look on her face, one that just screams _I thought I taught you better than this?_.

“He and Michael get on better, I guess.” It’s only a half-lie. Ashton and Michael do get on better… He decides it’s best to leave out the part about him not liking Ashton all that much.

After a few more moments, she accepts his answer and finishes with the last of the groceries, adding a few more things to the pile of food on the island Luke’s leaning against. “Well, I guess I’ll meet him some time. Probably not tonight, though, I’ve got a few lesson I wanted to work on tonight.”

He nods, secretly relieved that she wouldn’t have a chance to dig much deeper about Ashton.

“I’m going to go start working on those. Please have your homework finished before your friends show up.” They both know she probably won’t check, but he’s too afraid of the possible consequences if she does to not do as he’s told.

 

* * *

 

Two hours later and Calum has just shown up to Luke’s house with a bag of Doritos and a two liter of Dr. Pepper, which he sets on the island in the kitchen. He takes a few moments to observe the small buffet of other snacks Luke has already laid out on the counter, an approving look on his face.

Liz walks into the kitchen a few second later to grab a glass of water. Luke’s never minded when she’s here at the same time as his friends because she tends to keep her appearances to a minimum. This would probably be one of the only times they’d see her tonight.

She’s greeted by the dark-haired teenager who earns a subtle eye roll from Luke. His friend greets Luke’s mum with a cheeky grin.

“Good afternoon, Calum.” She chirps. She starts leaving but stops at the beginning of the hallway to look back to see Calum already inching toward the refrigerator. “No more than two tonight. I will look.” And then she disappears back toward the office to work on lesson plans.

Calum gives a small cheer and strides the rest of the way to the fridge to grab a beer. He cracks it open on the edge of the counter, immediately taking a swig from the bottle. It was a common thing for Luke and his friends to have a beer or two whenever they came over to his house, but his mum never let them have more than a few each. His dad didn’t really mind either way, just tells them that whatever pain they have in the morning is their own fault.

Cal joins Luke at the dining room table, plopping down into the chair with a small sigh. They sit there for a little while, just talking about whatever crosses their minds first. Football, school, music… all before the topic Luke figured would inevitably come up, came up.

“Michael told me you might like someone.” Calum says in a shockingly serious tone, his dark eyes locking onto Luke’s as he takes another sip from his beer.

Luke shifts uncomfortably in his chair and averts his gaze from his friend’s, instead focusing on the dark wood grain of the table. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Michael also told me that person is probably coming over tonight.”

Luke immediately looks back up at Calum and gives a small frown at the smirk playing on his friend’s lips. “I _definitely_ don’t wanna talk about it.” Luke says with a small laugh. “And Michael needs to learn to keep his big mouth shut.”

Calum, too, lets out a chuckle.

There are a few seconds of silence that follow their little bout of laughter before Luke decides to break it. “It’s not true, though, that I like him. At least, I’m, like, ninety-seven percent sure it isn’t…” Luke rolls his eyes at himself, absolutely hating that three percent of himself that isn’t quite sure. “But, seriously, Cal. If either one of you mention it while he’s here, I will actually end both of you.”

Calum nods, but there’s still a hint of a smirk on his face. “Whatever you say.”

Luke finds it extremely difficult to trust his friend’s words when he’s giving him that mischievous look. Still, he chooses not to respond in hopes that Calum will drop the subject altogether.

The two of them eventually grow bored of sitting at the table in silence and Calum suggests that they set up the Xbox while they wait for Mikey and Ashton to show up. Luke agrees and they sit in front of the TV in the living room for a little while connecting cables and switching around TV inputs until they finally find the one they’re supposed to be on.

Luke gets up to get a beer of his own before he’s back to sitting on the floor with Calum, staring blankly at the screen, knowing they shouldn’t start playing anything until all four boys are there. Luke’s not sure how long they’ve been waiting when there’s finally a barely audible knock on the front door. Luke’s getting up to answer it when he hears Michael’s muffled voice on the other side.

“C’mon Ash, you gotta be more aggressive about it. Like this.” A loud banging on the front door follows Michael’s words and causes Luke to jump, nearly dropping his bottle of beer. “See?”

Luke shakes his head with a small laugh and unlocks the door for them. Mikey immediately lets himself in upon hearing the click of the door unlocking, narrowly avoiding knocking Luke over when the door swings open.

“Have no fear, Michael is here!” He bellows, spreading his arms out like he’s prepping for a hug that never actually happens. “Oh, and Ashton too.” His arms drop back to his sides with a grin.

Ashton lets out a giggle but his laugh falls short the moment he lays eyes on Luke. Luke isn’t glaring this time, but he definitely looks much happier to see Michael than he is to see Ashton. “I, um, I made Mikey stop to get Macca’s on the way here. Sorry we’re late.” Ashton presents Luke with two McDonald’s bags and a meek smile.

Calum is jumping over the back of one of the couches toward Ashton before Luke has a chance to respond. “Duuude!” He takes both bags from the smaller boy and retreats into the kitchen to rifle through them. “You’re definitely a keeper.” Calum mumbles around a mouthful of fries.

Luke glances back at Ashton and notices the boy blushing slightly at Calum’s comment. He gives a small shake of his head and manages to muster up enough courtesy to introduce his friend. “The boy currently devouring our dinner is Calum, by the way.”

Ashton releases another small giggle but Calum cuts him off before he can reply. “Pff, he’s a smart kid, I’m sure he could’ve figured that one out on his own.”

“Well, you don’t have a fringe worth bowing down for and you aren’t super grumpy, so I thought it was safe to assume you were Cal.” Ashton’s hazel eyes flicker over to Luke and they are undoubtedly teasing.

Luke has to make a conscious effort to smile instead of narrowing his eyes at the boy’s words, having to remind himself a few times that Ashton _only means it as a joke_.

Calum finishes unwrapping a cheeseburger before sliding the bags across the island toward the other three boys. “You assumed right.”

The three of them divide the food evenly amongst themselves while sitting cross-legged on the dining room floor. Well, as evenly as Luke and Ashton could with Michael constantly trying to steal their food and then getting angry whenever they’d taking something of his in revenge.

“Hey, Ash, you want a beer?” Calum asks as he opens the fridge. “Mumma Hemmings has limited us each to two, though, so I’m sorry to tell you that you won’t be getting blackout drunk with us the first time we hang out.” Ashton lets out a giggle and accepts Calum’s offer. The dark-haired boy opens two beers and brings one to Ashton and the other to Michael.

As Mikey’s taking his beer from Cal, Luke reaches over to try and take some more of his food. Calum retreats back into the kitchen to nibble on some of his fries in peace.

“Stop taking my things!” Michael practically hisses as he swats Luke’s hand away from his chicken nuggets. While Michael has his attention on Luke, Ashton steals two of the nuggets. Luke can’t help the smug grin that appears on his face when he notices the theft and graciously accepts when Ashton offers one of the nuggets to him.

“This isn’t fair!” Michael whines. “Two against one, I’m outnumbered!” He whips his head around to face Calum who’s leaning against the island, laughing. “Hey, come help me.”

Cal shakes his head at the green-eyed boy. “Absolutely not. You’re dealing with professionals over there.”

It isn’t until Luke is genuinely smiling at Ashton until he realizes how weird the action feels. After all, it’s something he’s avoided doing all day and had been quite successful at until Ashton showed up at his door. He feels like his mind’s betraying him in a way. Shouldn’t he be more capable of being bothered by the boy when he was in his own home? On his turf? But at the same time, he feels like he’s being rewarded for his kindness (no matter how unwilling said kindness is) whenever he sees Ashton smile in return, his dimples appearing and little creases forming in the corners of his eyes.

He silently wonders if Ashton would ever stop to think something like that about him. He has a dimple too, if he smiles just right. Maybe that’s why Ashton’s always smiling at him, he’s trying to see—

“-ello? Hello?! Earth to Luke! Come in, Luke!”

The blue-eyed boy blinks back into reality to find Michael waving his hand around in front of his face. The platinum blonde-fringed boy looks like he’s about ready to die laughing.

“Jesus, I know Ash has nice eyes, but you were staring him down like he was a fucking meal.” He says, letting a small fit of laughter take him over before recovering a few seconds later, wiping a tear from his left eye.

Luke can feel his cheeks turning scarlet and he immediately diverts his gaze down to his hands, which are resting in his lap. “Sorry. I kinda… spaced out for a second there.”

“We noticed.” Michael says with a chuckle.

Luke looks up at Ashton with a sad smile. “Sorry.”

Ashton shrugs and begins chewing on his bottom lip. “I never said I didn’t like it.”

Luke’s gaze shifts to Michael, who looks about as shocked as Luke feels. He assumes Mikey registers the look of desperation on his face when he changes the subject. “Um, so, Ash. Tell us more about yourself.”

Ashton gives Mikey a small eye roll. “I told you earlier that I’m not that exciting.” But he doesn’t leave it at that, and Luke figures that Michael knew he wouldn’t. “Uh, I’ll be nineteen in July, which I guess is kinda cool. I have two young siblings, Lauren and Harry. They’re like my own kids, which… sounds weird now that I’m saying it out loud. Let me rephrase. I feel kinda like a father figure to them, since I’m about seven years older than Lauren, who’s the oldest of the two.” Ash pauses for a few seconds, looking around at the three of them. “I’m sorry, I’m really bad at this kinda thing.”

“No, that’s cool. I have an older sister.” Calum offers. “Her name’s Mali.”

“Yeah, and she’s, like a thousand times cooler than Calum will ever be.” Michael says with a laugh.

Ashton looks at Mikey curiously. “Do you have any?”

“What, siblings?” Michael asks. Ashton nods. “No, I’m more of a… lone wolf.”

This time it’s Calum that’s in a fit of hysterics. “If Mali’s a thousand times cooler than me, she’s a billion times cooler than you.”

“Ooh, that stings.” Michael presses one of his hands to his chest.

Ashton giggles before turning to Luke. “And you?”

Luke looks up from where he’d been staring at the floor and it takes him a second to even figure out exactly what Ashton’s asking. “I have two older brothers, Jack and Ben.”

Ashton nods thoughtfully. “Cool.”

Michael stands up from his place on the floor and grabs the bag of Doritos from Calum, who gives a whine of protest but nothing more. “That didn’t work like I thought it would, you’re all awful at small talk. Let’s just play Xbox already.”

 

* * *

 

It's around 12:30 in the morning and they’re in the middle of playing two-on-two in Call of Duty when Ashton lets out an audible yawn, simultaneously getting shot down by Michael in-game.

“You can’t quit on me now!” Calum nudges Ashton’s shoulder from where he’s sitting to Ashton’s right.

Ash ties to stifle another yawn, but fails in the end, this time getting taken down by Luke only moments after respawning. “Sorry, sorry. I’m just super tired. Been a long day.”

Calum gives only a small nod in response before he notices Luke’s character standing not too far behind him. He takes the opportunity to shoot his character and Luke lets out an audible hiss.

“Aw, Cal, c’mon!” He groans.

“Get your head in the game, Hemmings.” Michael mutters.

Luke laughs and rolls his eyes at Michael’s High School Musical reference, waiting for his character to respawn so he can try and get revenge on Calum.

The blonde-fringed boy pauses the game a few seconds later and is only greeted by glares from both Luke and Calum. “I think we should call it quits for the night. Ashton’s almost out.”

“‘M _fine_ …!” Ashton insists, but his eyes are barely managing to keep themselves open at this point.

Mikey gives his new friend a soft smile. “Okay, buddy.” He leans forward from his place on the floor to turn off the Xbox before collecting everyone’s controllers and returning them to their home on the shelf near the console. “It’s not like Luke and I weren’t gonna win anyway.” He looks over his shoulder and gives Calum a sly grin before turning away again.

Luke glances to his right just in time to watch as Ashton curls himself into a loose ball and cuddles up against the blonde’s side. Luke stiffens and nearly lets out a nervous laugh but knows he would feel bad for being mean to the boy when all he’s trying to do is sleep. Instead, he lets his body relax a little and pulls Ashton closer to him so the boy knows he doesn’t really mind the close proximity. He doesn’t even protest when the smaller boy rests his head on his shoulder and wraps one of his arms tightly around Luke’s waist.

Luke gives a small smile which falls from his face the second he realizes Michael and Calum are both watching them with smug looks on their faces. Luke narrows his eyes at his friends, not wanting to say anything aloud just in case Ashton was still conscious enough to hear.

Michael holds his hands up in surrender as he stands up. “Do any of you want a blanket? I call dibs on the one in Luke’s room.”

“Rude.” Luke mumbles.

“No thanks, man. I’m good.” Calum replies with a yawn.

Luke turns to face Michael, who’s beginning to walk in the direction of Luke’s bedroom. “Actually, will you grab that thin one from up in my closet?”

Mikey nods and returns a minute later with the blankets. He tosses one in Calum’s direction first. “We both know you’ll end up getting cold in the middle of the night.” Calum sighs but nods his agreement anyway. Michael gently hands the orange blanket Luke had been talking about earlier to him, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and barely dodging the slap Luke aims at him.

Luke carefully unfolds the blanket and lays it over Ashton’s lap. In his mind, he only does it to be nice, nothing more, but he can’t help the small smile on his face as he falls asleep with Ashton nestled into his side.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I haven't updated this in months, life's been super hectic for me up until now.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy and don't find this _too_ bad! This one's a bit shorter than the first, but I want to start making the chapters at least 10k from now on. Let me know if you like it :)

_Oh, my stomach’s tied in knots_  
_I’m afraid of what I’ll find if you wanna talk tonight_  
_See the problem isn’t you, it’s me, I know_  
_I can tell, I’ve seen it time after time_  
_And I’ll push you away_  
_I get so afraid, oh no_

 

It’s been a little over a week since school holiday started, which means it’s been a little over a week since Michael had invited Ashton over to Luke’s house. A little over a week since Michael confronted Luke about being so rude to Ashton. A little over a week since Luke realized he might like Ashton just a little bit. A little over a week since Ashton fell asleep literally cuddled up against him (and Luke willingly cuddled back a bit). A little over a week since he decided that he’ll at least put up with Ashton’s presence—for science, of course. There was definitely nothing personal that played into making that decision. Nope.

The cool morning combined with the warm embrace of his blankets is what Luke blames waking up twenty minutes after his alarm on. Or maybe that he was so tired from the break from school and wasn’t ready to go back yet? Either way, he can tell his mother is far from impressed by the way she’s banging her fist against his bedroom door.

“Luke Robert Hemmings!” Another three strikes to his door. “I don’t have any more time to wait for you. Get up and come get something to eat real quick because we. have. to. go.” He doesn’t miss the way she accentuates each of the last four words with a short pause. Instead of listening to her demand, he rolls the other way on his bed and releases a low groan. “Unless you’d rather walk to Calum’s house instead of being driven there?”

The threat has him to his feet in less than a second and he hears his mum walk away, probably not before rolling her eyes at him, though.

Sure, he’s eighteen now and fully capable of going to get his learner’s license for more than two years, but he’s just never gotten around to it. Michael has his P1 license and is more than willing to drive him almost anywhere, with the exception of school in the morning. The boy, understandably, values his ability to sleep in.

So every weekday morning, Luke’s driven to Calum’s house about an hour and a half before he even has to be to school so that his mum can get to work on time. Sometimes he falls asleep again when he gets there, others he and Cal find some way to pass the time while still only being half awake. The two boys have made a habit out of leaving for school at the last possible minute, much to Calum’s mum’s disapproval.

Luke stumbles over to his closet, pulling out the first clean shirt and pair of jeans that he sees, not even paying much attention to what’s on the shirt.

Liz passes him a slice of Vegemite toast and a styrofoam cup of orange juice as he grabs his backpack. She gestures to the front door with her own slice of bread and he obeys her at first, but finds himself glancing at the mirror hanging on the wall, noting that he’s never actually worn this shirt before. The words _Lost My Mind_ printed down the tee only hold his attention for a moment before his mum is rushing him out the door again.

“Luke, we really don’t have time for you to be ogling at yourself this morning.” She raises her eyebrows and Luke knows that there’s an amused look in her eyes, even if he can’t see it behind her sunglasses.

He snorts at her words and unlocks the front door, making his way to the car parked in their driveway. She gets in the car shortly after he does, both of them buckling their seatbelts and putting their juice in the cupholders.

It takes less than five minutes to get to Calum’s house, but Luke understands his mum’s urgency. Cal’s house is the opposite direction of the school she works at and it takes another twenty minutes—on top of the five she has to backtrack from going to Cal’s—for her to get to work every morning. Luke practically tuck and rolls to get out of the car, not wanting his mother to be any more late than she already is.

Calum’s sister Mali-Koa is the one to open the door when he knocks. Luke’s honestly surprised to see her standing in front of him. Up until now, she’d been in London for nearly six months trying to get her music career to take off even more than it already has.

Mali greets him with a bear hug when she realizes it’s him standing at the door. “Lucas!”

A laugh escapes Luke at her reaction. “‘Morning, Mali.”

She releases him from the hug with a wide grin, looking him over as if he’d really changed that much since the last time she’d seen him in person.

“Stop looking at me like that, it’s creepy.” He jokes with a smirk.

Mali rolls her eyes at him and brushes some of her hair back as he enters the house. Luke walks into the living room and falls back onto the large chair in the corner of the room, draping his long legs over the arm. Mali had disappeared into the kitchen after she’d let him in, which is where she emerges from a few seconds later, bowl of cereal in hand.

“So, how’s life?” She asks, sitting down on the sofa and positioning her legs underneath her.

He shrugs, “Absolutely the same as when you left.” Luke raises an eyebrow in thought. “Actually, I think I got a haircut just after you went to England.”

“Wow, that’s pretty intense.” She takes another bite from her cereal.

“I know, right? There’s no way your six months in London can come close to the excitement of that one haircut.”

Mali laughs with a shake of her head. “London was great and I’m not doing too bad either, thanks for asking.”

He knows her sarcasm is meant jokingly and she doesn’t actually care that he didn’t inquire right away, but Luke still feels a bit bad for not really saying anything. “Oh, sorry. How was London, Mali? How are you?”

There’s yet another eye roll coming from her. “Well, I think I went to at least twenty festivals while I was there, so that’s something.” She pauses to take a few more bites. “My friend Kylie and I did a lot of DJ sets out there, too, and I spent a lot of time in the studio just kinda messing around. We only wrote a handful of songs I’m in love with, but there’s always time to write more when I go back.” Mali shrugs like it’s no big deal, but Luke can see the tiny smile playing on her lips. He knows this is a huge deal for her, no matter how much she tries to downplay it.

“Consider me jealous.” He remarks.

“Jealous of what?” Calum asks as he makes his way into the room. Mali and Luke both look his way the second he makes himself known. He’s still looking tired, but not enough to keep from teasing Luke. “Jealous that she has a boyfriend and you don’t?”

“Calum.” Luke warns, but he knows there’s no way Mali didn’t hear him, even if Cal’s voice was a bit quieter than usual.

Mali whips around to look Luke in the eye. “Whoa, boyfriend, huh? I didn’t know you even went that way.”

Luke sighs and makes a mental note to kill Calum sometime in the distant future. “I don’t really know if I _do_ go that way, is why.” He hates that he feels like he has to explain himself when really, he probably doesn’t. Yet his mouth just keeps running because he has this issue with talking either too much or too little. This time his brain goes for the former. “But, like, it’s not that it’s a general _do I like guys?_ It’s more of a _do I like_ this _guy?_ Ya know?” He sighs again. “I’ve been thinking about it for, like, a week now and I don’t think I do. But at the same time, whenever I see him or talk to him I just kind of… what if?”

“So what’s his name?”

“Why does that matter?” He murmurs.

“Because my boy might like another boy. What’s his name?”

Luke cautiously tells her Ashton’s name and he watches in near horror as Mali claps, exclaiming something about how she loves that name.

“A name doesn’t even tell you anything about someone. He could be a murderer or something for all we know.” Luke knows someone with that cute of a smile wouldn’t harm a fly, but Mali doesn’t know that. “He’s new at school anyway, so nobody really knows him that well. Except maybe Dr. Farnsworth—you remember her?—who seemed to know a lot about him. His first day was the first time I’ve ever seen that woman smile. It was a horrifying experience. I’m scarred.

“But like, I do know that he’s apparently really good at maths, was on the best person on the acdec team at his old school or something. Was on their swim team, too. I think he said he recognized me from last swim season.” Word vomit. He can’t seem to stop himself from continuing. “I can’t fucking stand him, Mali. But then Michael invited him to my house—which really pissed me off, but—and he was, like, helping me steal my food back from Michael and basically being the human embodiment of sunshine and he may or may not have fallen asleep on me, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t even think he remembers it, to be honest.”

Mali is the first to speak when Luke leaves a gap wide enough for someone else to interject. “So if he asked you out, you’d say…?”

Luke doesn’t take a single moment to think before he responds. “Yes.” And it’s not just Mali’s or Calum’s eyes widening at the answer, Luke’s are too. “Oh my god, I didn’t—I don’t—you can’t just ask someone something like that, Mali, it’s not fair.” Luke can feel his cheeks grow more and more red with each passing second.

“Sorry.” But her tone is just shy of meaningful. “You know… I’ve been told I have a way with guys, if you want me to just casually, I don’t know, ask him out for you.”

Blue eyes meet brown and Luke can see that, even though he doesn’t say it, Calum is legitimately sorry for bringing it up in front of his sister.

Cal speaks up before Luke can. “You just barely know his name and that’s it. Go take care of your mess in the kitchen or something before mum and dad wake up. Just because you’re only visiting doesn’t mean you get to be lazy.” He shoos her from where she is on the sofa and immediately takes her spot once she stands.

“Rude.” Mali mutters, but leaves to take care of the mess she’d apparently made earlier.

The two teenagers are silent for a while before Luke breaks the silence in a hushed, and slightly offended, voice. “Why would you bring that up in front of her? You knew she wouldn’t just leave it alone once it was said.”

Calum stops looking as sorry as he did before. “Well, you weren’t exactly helping yourself there.” He shakes his head, but it’s more at whatever he was thinking than anything else. “You talk too much sometimes, man.”

 

* * *

 

They spend the rest of their time before school just shooting the shit up in Cal’s room, trying to forget the fact that Mali now knew way more about Ashton than either one of them had wanted.

Eventually, they hear Cal’s mum calling for them downstairs, saying that they should’ve left for class at least five minutes ago. The two boys make their way downstairs, saying goodbye to Calum’s family before they go outside to grab their bikes.

Both of them ride in relative silence for a majority of the way to school, except when they’re waiting to cross the street, but even then the conversation is kept short. The ride from Calum’s house to school isn’t much longer than the drive Luke and his mum make every morning.

They lock their bikes up at the bike rack like they do every morning, before making their way toward the side doors of the school, where they know Michael will be waiting for them. As Luke opens the door for he and Calum, his free hand comes up to wipe the sweat that had formed on his forehead during the ride to school.

He knows that deep down he’s expecting it, but Luke still lets out an audible gasp when he finds himself nearly being knocked to the ground by Michael’s lame excuse for a hug. “Mike..” He grumbles against the other boy’s shoulder. Luke releases a small laugh in hopes that maybe Michael will ask why he’s laughing and then release him to be able to get an answer, but the other boy either doesn’t hear or chooses to ignore him.

“Okay, don’t be angry,” Michael says as he pulls away from the hug, although he continues holding onto Luke’s shoulders.

Luke rolls his eyes because that is quite possibly one of the worst ways to say hello to someone. He tries to shrug away from his friend’s hold on him, but the hands on his shoulders don’t budge. “Why would I be angry?” He wasn’t nervous before, but once he asks, Luke feels this weight in his stomach like Michael might have actually managed to do something bad enough to make even Luke angry, which they all know is not easily done.

Michael glances over his own shoulder and Luke follows his gaze. Behind Michael stands Ashton who’s currently talking to some of their more distant friends like he’s known them his entire life.

Luke shrugs, “So?”

“You’re… you’re not bothered at all?” Michael looks genuinely confused, as though he’d been preparing for the worst and received far from it.

The blonde boy shakes his head. “Well, just a tiny bit, but it’s not like I’m going to rip his throat out for being friendly.” He knows he’s lying, it does bother him that Ashton’s talking to his friends, but those friends aren’t as close to him as Cal and Mikey are, so he’s less protective. That’s what he tells himself, anyway.

Michael’s green eyes are narrowed as he scans Luke up and down, his hands still holding the other boy in place. “Who are you and what have you done with the Luke Hemmings from a week ago?”

Luke lets out a weak laugh. “C’mon, Mike, let me go.” He shrugs away Michael’s hands, but there’s still a pair of green eyes staring him down. “Stop that.” He’s in no way surprised that his friend doesn’t avert his gaze.

“‘Morning Cal, ‘morning Luke!” Ashton’s voice breaks Luke and Michael from their silent staring competition.

“Hey,” Luke manages, but his eyes don’t meet Ashton’s, instead landing on Calum, who greets Ash with a friendly smile.

Ashton clears his throat and Luke actually looks over at him this time. “Michael said I can sit with you guys at lunch today, I hope that’s alright.” Ashton looks way too excited about this, as though telling him no would be like telling a kid they can’t have that puppy you’d been promising them.

“That’s totally fine.” Calum assures him and Luke just nods along, doesn’t have it in him to be mean right now, not after Ashton had been so nice to him back at his place last week. Luke had been so taken aback when the smaller boy had thanked him for letting him come over, hadn’t even mentioned how rude Luke had been a majority of the day before.

The bell rings before any of them have a chance to say anything else, but three-fourths of them are going to the same class so the conversation doesn’t completely stop there. Calum says goodbye before walking in the opposite direction and then it’s just the three of the them walking to calculus together.

Michael, standing between the other two boys, is the first to speak again. “I was thinking maybe we could all hang out at mine after school today? I got a new guitar and I still haven’t gotten the chance to show it off to anyone.” He’s got this grin on his face that anyone who knows Michael would recognize as his _I Know You Won’t Say No™_ face.

“Sure, I don’t think Mum would mind.” Luke replies simply, giving a shrug.

Luke’s attention goes to Ashton when the boy nods. “Yeah, I can probably go, too. My mum thought it was cool that you guys let me hang out with you last week, by the way. I don’t think she thought I’d be making friends this fast.” He lets out a giggle, but it dies away quickly when he meets Luke’s stare. Both boys avert their gazes immediately.

To Michael, the silence that ensues as they approach their first class seems typical for the other two boys. He makes no effort in trying to start up a new conversation, knowing it’ll have to end once they’re in the classroom and that it may not be worth it considering the relationship between two of the participants. He just gives a sigh and holds the door open for the other two when they get to Dr. Farnsworth’s room.

 

* * *

 

Ashton is the last to sit down at their lunch table that day. He’s giggling before he’s even informed them of the reason for his tardiness, which interrupts the conversation they were having about Michael’s new Xbox game. “You know that girl in our grade, Aleisha? Yeah, well, it turns out she’s, like, really good friends with some kids I know back at Hillcrest! Isn’t that awesome?”

“Yeah, man, that’s sweet! You’d probably be surprised at how many people here actually know people from Hillcrest.” Calum lets out a small chuckle then, giving Luke a mischievous look. “Did you say you were talking to Aleisha?”

Luke grimaces. “Cal, don’t.”

“Because Luke here used to go out with her, thought she was super cute, ya know?”

“ _Calum_.” There’s a fierce glint to the blonde’s eyes now, but he has a pretty good feeling that words alone aren’t going to do much to help him. Everyone knows that once Calum gets his mind set on something, it isn’t so easy to deter him from it.

And just as he’d expected, Luke is completely ignored by his friend. “They’d been going out for, what, two years? I think it was about that long, not that I was keeping track… Anyway, she wanted to, like, go further in the relationship than Luke and he pretty much freaked out once they actually started to do anything. They didn’t last much longer after that, to be totally honest.”

Luke couldn’t help the furious blush that had completely spread across his cheeks by the time Calum was done talking. “I didn’t freak out…” He whispered, more to himself than any of the other three sitting at the table with him.

Ashton sat there in silence for a few moments before saying with an uncertain smile, “Go further?”

Calum’s eyebrows scrunched for a split second, seeming confused about having to clarify. “Yeah, like… go further.”

The other boy gave a slight shake of his head, obviously still not getting it (Luke wasn’t sure whether or not he should be thankful for Ashton’s confusion). “I don’t…?”

Cal rolls his eyes. “Sex, Ash.”

“Oh!” Now it’s Ashton’s turn to blush, but Luke can’t even revel in that because he’s too busy hoping they’ll just drop it already. “So did you guys not do it, then?” Ashton asks after giving himself another couple seconds to collect his thoughts, and Luke can feel the boy’s hazel eyes practically boring into him.

Suddenly, Michael joins in with an unnecessarily loud burst of hysterical laughter. “Do you really think—?”

Luke finally grows bothered enough to interject. “No we didn’t, okay? Can we please change the subject now? This isn’t exactly my first choice for our lunchtime chat.” He doesn’t think he can take much more of his friends talking about his sex life or lack thereof.

Michael and Calum both shrug, Mikey muttering something Luke doesn’t catch. When the blonde looks to Ashton, he can see how much the other boy regrets asking about it. It doesn’t change the fact that he asked, though. He glares back at him, feeling a little pleased with himself when Ashton begins looking uncomfortable from the sudden negative attention.

They do change the subject, although it takes them a little while to even start talking again. As per usual, Michael’s the first one to take initiative and chooses to resume his previous discussion on his new video game.

 

* * *

 

After music class is over, all four boys follow Michael out to where his car is always parked. Luke and Calum have always wondered how Mikey manages to park so close to the front of the school when he’s constantly showing up late for class. They’re thankful for it, though, with how outrageously hot the Australian sun can get during the school year.

Calum calls shotgun before the other two even think to, which they allow him to have it with only a little bit of muttering done on Luke’s part. He’s not exactly thrilled to be sitting in such close proximity to Ashton, but the ride to Michael’s house is only seven minutes long when the traffic from school is at its absolute shittiest, so Luke can’t complain too much.

When they arrive to Michael’s house, the platinum blonde boy’s mum is standing in the driveway of their home, putting things in the trunk of her car. Michael parks next to her but doesn’t get out right away. Instead, he turns to the backseat and looks at Ashton. “If she gets too smothering, just tell her. She’d rather be told than not know.” He goes to turn around, but stops halfway through moving. “Also, um… they’ve got this, like, wall of stuff all about me? If we could not even talk about that, that’d be great…”

Even though Michael misses it, Luke catches the sympathetic smile Ashton gives the boy in the driver’s seat and he can’t help but feel grateful for that little gesture.

Michael’s mum greets them all the moment they’ve stepped out of the car. She’s got a familiar grin on her face—Michael has mastered the same one, whether he’s realized it or not—as she closes the trunk of her little Prius. “How was school today?”

Her son shrugs. “Eh, nothing special.”

“Oh, but Ms. Edlington did give us all one hundred percents on our quizzes because her teaching aide had screwed up grading them _that bad_.” Calum notes. It wasn’t uncommon for their science teacher’s aide to mess up on grading. They’d been given several A’s on assignments in her class prior to this quiz, but they were thrilled nonetheless.

Mrs. Clifford shakes her head with a sigh. “I can’t believe Ms. Edlington still lets them help. This has to have happened at least nine times by now.”

Michael nods in agreement. “Yeah, but I think she’s known his mum for, like, twelve years now and he’s been helping her for more than a year. It’d probably be awkward if she stopped letting him be her teaching aide at this point.”

She makes a _tsk_ ing noise before her attention is drawn to Ashton. “And who might you be?” She asks with a wide smile, brushing some stray blonde hair from her face.

“Mum, this is Ashton. Ashton, Mum.” Michael introduces absentmindedly.

Ashton barely manages to get out a _nice to meet you_ before Michael’s ushering the three of them into the house with his mum following close behind.

“We’re gonna play with my new guitar in the garage if you don’t mind, Mum.”

“No, hun, go for it.” She leaves her son and his friends to do their own thing while she opts to go to the living room.

Michael bumps into Luke on the way to the garage, causing the taller boy to nearly fall onto Ashton. Mikey does his best to hide his smirk, but he’s not fooling Luke. Instead of causing a scene about something so stupid (like Michael probably wants him to), Luke just apologizes to Ashton with a small smile and continues in the direction he’d been going before.

The garage is quite toasty but it’s nothing they aren’t prepared for. Michael and Calum both go around the room to switch on a couple fans while Luke takes a seat on the sofa pressed against the furthest wall. Ashton follows his lead a few seconds later, once he realizes Mikey and Cal don’t need any help. Michael and Calum both grab guitars—Calum’s an old one he’d been gifted by one of his cousins and Michael’s is a shiny acoustic Luke’s never seen before—before joining the other two on the couch.

“That’s a nice looking guitar.” Luke muses, staring at the instrument.

“Thanks. It’s a Washburn.” Michael winks. He lightly strokes his fingers up the body of the guitar, admiring how glossy it still is.

The taller boy laughs. He and Mikey both know the guitar’s not _that_ impressive, but any new instrument is still a pretty exciting thing for them. They also know that they have to relish in the look of a glossy guitar while they can—Michael’s been known to ruin that quite fast.

“Do you mind if I have a look at it real quick?” Luke had almost forgotten Ashton was there, if he’s being honest.

Michael shakes his head but hands the boy his guitar anyway.

Ashton takes it from him gingerly, holding it as if it may break at the slightest bit of mishandling. The other three boys watch in silence as Ash begins to pluck at the strings, creating a simple rhythm that any of them would admit is quite good. The long fingers of his left hand spread themselves to accommodate a different chord and Luke can’t help but watch in awe.

“You play?” The question is asked before the blonde has a chance to decide against it.

Ash shrugs and switches to a different chord, plucking in a slightly faster rhythm now. “Yeah, I taught myself when I was twelve or thirteen. I prefer the drums, but, ya know.” He shrugs yet again. “Brittany always likes when I play guitar more, says it’s less aggressive. I guess I drum pretty hard.”

“Who’s Brittany?” Calum asks. Luke hopes she’s a cousin or something, but he has this strong feeling that he’s wrong.

Ashton hums as if that’s an acceptable answer. His fingers continue making that lovely song that Luke wishes he could keep all to himself and play whenever he likes. “Girlfriend.” Ashton says after a few moments more of playing.

Luke’s brain doesn’t register Ashton’s words fast enough for his liking. Before he can stop himself, he lets out the shortest word he knows that will match with the most disappointed tone he’s probably ever used. “Oh.”

There’s a brief second there where he and Ashton make eye contact. For Luke, that second lasts far too long, seeming to stretch on for hours. In that second, though, Luke can only imagine what Ashton sees in his blue eyes. Shock, dismay, confusion… He sees something similar in Ashton’s, but he tells himself he’s just reading it all wrong.

“Ya know what? I forgot my extra capo in my room. Cal, come help me find it.” Michael says, breaking the eye contact between his friends.

Calum gives him a borderline disgusted look. “You’re almost a grown ass man, find it your damn sel—” But Michael grabs onto Calum’s arm and drags him from the garage anyway.

The second the other two are gone, Ashton places his hand on Luke’s arm, causing the taller boy to startle. Ash rubs circles on Luke’s arm with his thumb, a sad look on his face. “Are you okay?”

Luke lets out a weak laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”

Ash gives him a look Luke is quite familiar with—one his mum has given him on countless occasions. _Don’t lie to me._ “Are you sure?”

He shakes his head, trying halfheartedly to move away from the other boy’s touch. “I’m _fine_ , Ashton.” He grumbles, gnawing at his bottom lip and staring at the concrete floor of the garage. Luke’s about ninety-five percent sure Ashton doesn’t believe him, but if he’s right, the other boy doesn’t make that known.

Instead, the boy just gives a dejected _okay_ and moves his hand back to play with the guitar. His eyes are also trained on the floor, but he’s got this defeated look on his face. A few seconds later, though, Ashton stops briefly, only to say, “If you ever change your mind, you have my number. I won’t judge you on whatever it is, I promise.”

Luke’s pretty sure that last part isn’t true, even if Ashton doesn’t know it yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think. If you guys like it, I'll probably keep updating. ^-^  
> If it's awful, let's pretend this never happened.


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